My December
by BrokenShardss
Summary: Faith ends up having to help Angel deal with his past, and in the process they both discover feelings they didn't expect. Fangel
1. Making Amends

**A/N: I love Faith and Angel together… and I wish more people did too. But I do adore Buffy and Angel as well, so there will be little bits of B/A in this story. Mostly F/A though. This takes place during episode 3x10 – Amends. Reviews make me very happy :D**

Faith opened the door to her apartment and flipped on the light switch. She tossed her weapon's bag on the floor beside her bed. Exhausted from patrolling, she flopped down onto her mattress. A decision to just rest her eyes briefly turned into a full-blown dream-filled sleep before she could stop it. Rolling over on her side, her mind drifted and she began to dream.

------

_Buffy lay in her bed, eyes open and staring. Angel slowly sat down on the edge of the bed and reached out to press her palm against his._

Faith watched quietly from the shadows, partially touched, and partially nauseated by the scene.

_Angel pulled Buffy thrush against his chest, kissing her passionately as his hands roamed over her back._

Faith turned her head away as they pulled off each other's clothing. The words 'Why the hell am I here?' flashed in her mind.

_Their love-making was sweet and gentle, with soft caresses and loving kisses._

At this point, Faith's mind was practically screaming for her to wake up.

_Angel's hand slowly crept up Buffy's forearm._

It was all Faith could do to keep from vomiting, but as she glanced back into the depths of the room, she noticed an ugly bald man with deep cuts where his eyes should be.

_Angel firmly pinned Buffy's wrist to the bed and rose his head up, switching into his vampire face._

Faith opened her mouth to scream Buffy's name, but no sound came out.

_Angel sunk his fangs deep into Buffy's throat, draining the life from her body._

"NO!"

------

Faith shot up straight in her bed, her body covered in a cold sweat. She dragged her fingers through her long brown hair and tried to make sense of the strange dream she had just experienced. "What… the f—"

Faith was interrupted by a light rapping noise coming from the outside of her door. She lifted herself off the bed and smoothed out her wrinkled tank top. Leaning forward to peer through the peephole, she saw that it was Buffy Summers standing on the other side. Faith turned the handle and the door swung open to reveal Buffy in a long tan coat. Faith did her best to appear cool and collected, so she characteristically shifted her weight to one foot and crossed her arms over her chest. "Hey."

"Hi." Buffy moved a step further into the room and shut the door behind her. Her eyes scanned over Faith's appearance and noticed that the girl looked a bit more uncomfortable than usual. "How are you?"

"Five by five. You know me." Not wanting to let on any more about what was going on, she quickly changed the subject. "What are you doing here?" She lightly bit down on her tongue, hoping that she hadn't come across as rude. She and Buffy may not be the best of friends, but Faith didn't want to be her enemy either.

Brushing off Faith's bluntness, she answered the question sweetly. "We're having Christmas Eve dinner at my house, and I thought that, um, if you didn't have plans..."

"Well, thanks." The image of Angel biting Buffy shot through her thoughts. "I would like to come, but I got plans." Stumbling over her words, she hurriedly came up with an excuse. "There's this big party I've been invited to. It should be a blast."

Buffy could see through Faith's alibi, but respected her decision and didn't call her out on it. "Okay. Cool. But if you change your mind, the offer…"

Faith cut her off mid-sentence. "That's nice of you. Thanks. But I got… I got that big party that I've been invited to, so…" Faith couldn't stop seeing Angel's face as it buried into Buffy's neck. She couldn't let that happen. She watched as Buffy took a step closer to the door. "Buffy, wait."

Buffy turned her head back to face Faith. "Yeah?"

"Um…" Faith looked down at her feet as she traced an invisible line with the toe of her boot. "Do you ever have weird dreams?"

Buffy tried to get a read on Faith's expression as she pondered the odd change of topic. "Yeah. Everyone does."

Faith looked back up, deep brown eyes locking with hazel-green. "No, I mean like… prophecy dreams. The freaky slayer type dreams."

"They sort of come with the slayer territory. Why?" Buffy brushed a stray hair out her face and walked closer to Faith.

"I had this dream. And I know it has to mean something, 'cause there's no way I'd dream it otherwise." Faith cringed a little at the memory.

"Are you sure?" Buffy watched as Faith nodded her head. "Well, maybe it could be…" One look at Faith's face told her that Faith wasn't lying. "What did you dream about?"

"It was about you and Angel." Faith lowered herself to sit on the edge of her bed, propping one foot up on the opposite knee.

"That doesn't sound too paranormal." Buffy followed suit and sat down on the bed, but crossed her legs politely instead.

Faith attempted to suppress the laugh that bubbled up in her throat, but it escaped despite the fact. "Trust me. This was something I never want to see."

Buffy cocked her head to the side, a quizzical look on her face. "What were we…" All it took was an eyebrow raise from Faith for her to figure it out. "Oh… we were…"

"Screwing. Yeah, I'm trying real hard to repress that." Faith smirked as she saw a slight crimson blush creep onto Buffy's cheeks. "But the weirdest part was this freaky-looking priest guy with his eyes gouged out. And then…" Faith avoided eye contact with Buffy and chipped at her nail polish.

"Then what? Faith, what happened?"

"He killed you." Faith lifted her head, feeling bad saying the words.

"The priest?" Buffy knew what she meant, but hoped it wasn't true.

"Angel. You two were… you know, and he killed you." Faith got up and paced the room for a moment. "I don't get it. Why would I dream this? Unless…" Faith sighed and pinched the bridge of her nose while she thought. Her hand dropped back down to her side and she turned to look at Buffy. "Have you noticed anything different about Angel?"

"I haven't really talked to Angel lately. But, um, I did see him yesterday. He seemed kind of freaked; he just bailed on me without saying anything." Buffy tried to hide the hurt in her voice. She wished Angel could still be open with her like he was before. "Maybe I should talk to him? He might know something about these priest guys."

"Yeah, but if what I saw in my dream is true… you might not be the best person to help him right now."

"So, what should we do?" For once, Buffy was at a loss for a plan. When it came to Angel, her brain usually didn't function properly.

"I'll talk to him." Faith realized that she needed to do this, even if she did think Angel was evil. "I got the dream for a reason. I guess that means I'm the one who has to help him."

Buffy wasn't sure that this was such a good idea. The last time Faith had seen Angel, she had very nearly staked him. "You're going to help him?"

"Help him, stop him from going crazy and killing you, whatever I have to do." Faith grabbed her black jean jacket off the back of a chair and slipped it over her shoulders. "Just as long as I don't have to dream about you guys anymore." She made a disgusted noise and made for the door.

"Hey, Faith?" Buffy got up and walked over to the door. "Thank you. I know that Angel isn't one of your favorite people, and you and I sort of had our rough spots but—"

"Don't mention it, B. If shrinking Angel works better than staking him, I'm all for it." Faith tried a slight smile and opened the door.

Buffy followed her outside of the room. "Good luck." She gave Faith a genuine smile and headed for Revello Drive.

Faith watched as Buffy left and started walking in the opposite direction. "Yeah, this day just keeps getting luckier." She laughed dryly and headed to Angel's mansion.

------

Faith walked into the mansion and looked around. "Angel? Are you here?" She walked further into the room, surveying her surroundings. "It's me. Faith." She rounded a corner and saw a huddled mass lying on the floor. "Angel?" She slowly walked over to him and knelt down to rest her hand on his shoulder. His whole body was shaking with fear. "Hey, shh, you're okay. I'm not going to hurt you."

Angel lifted his head up to look at Faith. "Faith?" He stopped shaking for a moment and stood up. "You shouldn't be here."

"I'm here to help you... I think." Faith shook her head, causing her long dark hair to spill down over her shoulders. Angel watched, mesmerized by the movement, his eyes glued to her neck.

Faith watched him and tried to regain his focus. "Angel. Angel!"

Angel snapped his head up, breaking free of his daze. "You have to leave."

"Angel, what's doing this to you?" Faith watched as his eyes darted around the room, randomly staring into space.

Angel brought his hands up to his head and grabbed clumps of hair in between his fingers. "Stop, please stop. I'm sorry."

Faith looked around, but couldn't figure out who Angel was talking to. "Hey, calm down. There's no one here. You don't have anything to be sorry for." This was going to take longer than she thought.

"They're here. Don't you see them? They won't leave me alone." Angel dug his nails into his scalp, trying to keep the voices out.

"Angel, don't." Faith walked up to him and pulled his hands away from his head. "You're going to hurt yourself."

Angel could feel the blood pumping through her veins, the pulse from her wrist pressing up against his cold skin. He quickly yanked his hands out of her grasp. "I can't make them go away." He raised his gaze to meet Faith's and stared into her eyes.

Faith felt as if he was looking straight through her, his penetrating stare was enough to make any other girl go weak in the knees. Not her though. "Make who go away?"

"Her… and him… and…" Angel shut his eyes tightly. "People that I killed."

"Let me get this straight… dead people… are talking to you." Faith couldn't believe this. "Come on, Angel. They aren't real."

Jenny Calendar walked behind Faith, whispering to Angel. _"Kill her. You know you want to. She's trying to keep you from being who you really are. Just get rid of her."_

"No, I won't do it. I'm not going to hurt her." Angel kept looking over Faith's right shoulder, glaring at the invisible Jenny.

"Hurt who?" Faith checked over her shoulder but didn't find anything, so she returned her attention to Angel. "Ignore what ever you are seeing, okay?"

"_You want to be free don't you? Kill her." _ Jenny continued to taunt Angel. _"Can't you just taste her? So tender and sweet. You can't fight it."_

Angel quickly closed the distance between himself and Faith and grabbed her by the shoulders, pulling her up against his body. Her face was barely an inch from touching his; he could feel her warm breath on his skin. Her heartbeat was becoming more rapid, and her scent became tinged with fear.

"Get off!" Faith brought her leg up and kneed him in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards onto the floor.

Angel looked up at Faith with pain in his eyes. "I'm sorry. I— it… it told me to kill you." He lifted his body up so he was standing and frantically looked around the room again. "You have to leave. I might…"

"I can handle myself. I'm not leaving until I help you. Come on." She motioned for him to follow her to the bedroom. Once in the room she led him over to the bed. "Here. You should rest."

Angel pulled his shirt over his head and tossed it on the floor. "Thank you."

Faith drank in his whole appearance and hoped that in Angel's state he didn't notice what she was doing. "No problem." She flashed a quick smile. "I'll be right here when you wake up."

Angel smiled back and crawled into his bed, pulling the sheets over his body.

Faith sat down in a chair outside of his room. She sighed deeply and let her head fall back against the wall. This hadn't been what she had in mind for her Christmas.

------

Faith rolled her head around on her shoulders, trying to relieve the tension in her neck. How had she let herself get sucked into this? That dream might not even have meant anything. She smacked her head against the wall, knowing that there was no way the dream didn't mean something. But why her? She was just the second rate screw-up slayer. Why would anyone think she could handle a job like this? She let out a long breath and got out of her chair. She stretched out her tired limbs and walked cautiously towards Angel's doorway. Quietly, she rested her arm on the stone doorframe and peered inside. He lay in his bed, tossing and turning, but never waking. His brow was furrowed with worry, and some strange tug inside of Faith made her want to soothe away his pain. Shaking off the feeling, she tore her eyes away from his sleeping figure and returned to her place in the chair. The confusion of the situation swirled around in her mind and she let her head rest on the wall. Sitting in the eerie silence of the room she could hear Angel's slow melodic breathing. It puzzled her, since she knew he didn't have any need to breathe. As this thought mixed in with the rest, her eyelids slowly started to close and she realized how tired she was. After a while, she heard a faint whisper from the other room.

"Help me."

Faith looked around, but couldn't locate the source of the sound. "Angel?"

"Please." The voice seemed a bit more desperate this time, so against her better judgment, Faith decided to investigate it.

She set her feet down onto the cold cement floor and stared into the shadows. Carefully, she crept over to Angel's room. Upon walking inside, she was hit with a blast of smoke. "Angel!" She ran over to his huddled body, which was covered in flames. As quickly as she could, she shrugged her coat off her shoulders and used it to stifle the growing flames. "Come on. Come on!" She could feel the heat seeping through the fabric, burning sores into her fingers. Despite her efforts, Angel's body began to disintegrate into dust. "No, damn it!" Her coat flew through the air as she frantically tried to extinguish the fire.

"Faith…" He croaked out her name before disappearing completely.

As the fire closed in on her, Faith's eyes flew open and she jolted awake for the second time today. The realization that it had all been a dream set in and she let out a deep breath. Long, slender fingers found their way to her chestnut hair as she cradled her face in her hands. When she finally lifted her head up, she gasped loudly due to the sight in front of her. She lightly smacked the shirtless man kneeling at her feet. "What are you doing? You scared the hell out of me."

"I heard you screaming. I wanted to see if you were alright."

"I'm fine. I'm not the one talking to invisible people, remember?" She pushed her hair back behind her ear on one side, exposing her hand to Angel's view.

"Your hand." He swiftly grabbed her arm by the wrist, yanking her hand towards him to examine it more closely.

"What about it?" When she didn't receive an answer, Faith rolled her eyes and continued. "Is this another one of your delusional fantasies? Because," She yanked her hand away from his grasp, "… my hands are just—" Scanning her eyes over the palm, she could see several deep red welts covering the expanse of her hand. She lifted up the other hand and noticed that there were the same severe burns on it as well. "What the...?" He voice was low with an incredulous tone to it.

"You're badly burned."

Faith finally stopped fixating on her hands and snapped her focus up to look into Angel's eyes. "It's nothing."

"What happened to you?"

"Nothing happened." Faith could feel the intensity of Angel's eyes as they bored into her. Using the back of her hand, she shoved Angel aside and slid out of the chair. She walked a fair distance away before stopping to gaze into the dark crevices of the room.

Angel sighed and pulled his self back up to a standing position. "Faith…"

Keeping her back turned to him, she let out a loud laugh. "It's funny how much more sane you are now that you think I'm the one with the problems."

Angel hung his head and moved over to stand behind Faith. "I was trying to help." He cautiously extended his hand to rest on her shoulder. The second that his fingertips made the lightest brush of contact, Faith spun around to stare him in the face. "I don't need your help. I'm here to help you, so let's keep it that way."

"Why you?"

Faith's eyebrows knitted together and she scrunched up her face as she looked at him in confusion. "What are you talking about?"

"Why are you the one helping me? The last time we met you nearly rammed a stake into my chest."

Her features relaxed and she slightly shrugged her shoulders. "I don't know. Ask them." She jabbed a finger straight up in the air and glanced towards the ceiling. At Angel's puzzled look, she continued. "Whatever 'powers' are up there. They keep sending me freaky slayer dreams."

"Are you sure they aren't just—"

Faith cut in, "Normal dreams? Yeah, those don't usually cause my hands to catch on fire." She lifted up her hands as a display and arrogantly smirked at him.

"I'm sorry."

"It's not your fault." She paused briefly, thinking for a moment. "No, wait… actually it **is **your fault."

Angel turned his head, averting his vision from the woman in front of him. "Faith, I—"

Yet again, Faith interrupted him. "You know, I didn't ask for this. I didn't ask to baby sit a psycho vampire. Honestly, I didn't even ask to be a slayer! I shouldn't be one." She shook her head. "B's the real slayer."

It seemed strange to Angel that Faith would admit these things to him. He raised his head and looked into her eyes, seeing the vulnerability there. At that moment, his heart went out to her. "That's not true. You deserve to be the slayer just as much as Buffy does. Maybe even more so."

"Yeah. Right." Faith continued to talk, but her voice became inaudible to Angel.

"_Do you know why she's the slayer?" _ The First in the guise of Buffy walked in between Angel and Faith. _"Because you let me die."_

"No." Angel shut his eyes tightly in attempt to block out her image.

"_Yes. What if Xander hadn't been there? You couldn't have saved me. And you know why?" _ She advanced until she was barely inches from his face. _"Because you're worthless. You try your hardest to be one of them, but you never will be."_

"Stop it."

"_The only thing you were ever good for was death and destruction."_

"You're wrong." Angel opened his eyes and glared at the fake Buffy.

"_Am I? Is there something else you can do to contribute to this world?"_

Angel suddenly felt something violently grasping his upper arms. The fake Buffy disappeared and a desperate Faith took her place.

"Angel!" Faith screamed as she shook his body roughly.

"Faith. It's you."

"Of course it's me. Who else would be hanging around this place?"

"Buffy." Angel removed himself from Faith's grasp and got up to stand in front of the curtained window.

"Yeah, well other than B."

"No. She was here."

Faith swiveled her head from side to side, searching over her shoulders. "Angel, there's no one else here. You were just seeing things." She rolled her eyes in frustration. "Again."

"It seemed so real." He brought his hand up to his head and massaged his temples.

Her contempt for his actions faded at the sound of pain in his voice. She wanted to fix things, but it was obvious that she wasn't helping him like this. "Look, I'm gonna go see if I can find out what's happening. You stay here. I'll be back when I can." As she walked past him, she could feel his fingertips graze against her arm.

"Thank you."

Faith pulled away from his touch and smiled awkwardly. "Try not to do anything stupid." With that, she turned and left for the library.

------

The double doors flew open as Faith pushed her way into the Sunnydale High School library. She noticed Buffy sitting at a table, talking with Giles. "Knew I'd find you here."

"Faith." Buffy stood up from her chair. "How is he?"

"Comes and goes. But if I had to guess, I'd say not good." She tried to make her statement as sarcastic as possible, but the worry was evident in her voice. She turned her attention away from Buffy and over to Giles. "Giles, have you found anything?"

"Um, yes, I believe I have. That thing you saw in your dream, did it look like this?" He held up a rather old book and turned to a picture of a man with his eyes cut out.

"Yeah, that's the guy." The memory of her all-to-vivid dream flashed into her head and she wrapped her coat tighter across her chest. "What is he?"

"A harbinger, or Bringer. They are known to be minions of The First."

"The First? First what?" Faith cocked an eyebrow at him.

"Essentially… The First Evil."

"You have got to be kidding me. What does it want with Angel?"

"We're not sure yet." Buffy shifted around in her chair, with fear and worry written across her face like a billboard. It was very apparent how useless she felt in this situation, and Faith easily picked up on it.

Ignoring Buffy's obvious pain, Faith's temper began to rise. "Then get sure. If he keeps going on like this, someone is gonna end up dead."

Giles rose from his chair and placed himself in front of Faith, obscuring her view of Buffy. "Faith, we're doing all we can. Just keep a watch on him until we figure this out. Can you do that?"

A defeated sigh could be heard as Faith nodded her head in agreement. "Yeah. But you guys need to hurry." She quickly turned on her heels and sauntered out of the school.

Giles took off his glasses and began to clean off the lenses. "She seems to genuinely care about him."

Pausing her research, Buffy closed the book she had been skimming and focused on Giles. "Yeah. She does."

Giles placed his glasses back on his nose and pulled up a chair next to Buffy. "Maybe letting her help him was a better idea than I had thought."

"I sure hope so."


	2. Winds of Change

**A/N: Okay, to be honest, I have sort of abandoned this story. (As you could probably tell.) But I did have this chapter on my computer, and I figured I should upload it for those of you who were interested in the story. Perhaps this will help spark my muse and I will continue on! :) Let me know what ya think, and if you want more!**

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Evening was setting in and the sky was getting increasingly darker by the second. The firm wood of a stake pressed against soft skin as it lay in the sleeve of Faith's jacket. As the last of the sun slipped below the horizon, Faith slid the stake down into her hand and gripped it tightly. The graveyards were surprisingly deserted and she couldn't decide whether that was a good or bad thing. She was nearing Angel's mansion when she saw a hooded figure slip through the trees.

"So much for that slow night." In regular Faith fashion, she prepared herself to fight without a thought, but then she saw more of the hooded men headed for Angel's house. "Damn it!" Picking up speed, she sprinted to the mansion and crashed through the window. "Angel!"

Angel got up from his chair and looked at the broken window. "It's usually customary to knock when you enter someone's house. Or, you know, use a door."

She brushed the glass shards off of her clothing and glanced towards the door. "I didn't have time."

"Faith, what's going on?"

"Grab a weapon." She kept her eyes focused on the door.

"Faith."

"If you want to live you're gonna listen to me. Now grab a weapon." There was no doubting that she meant what she said due to the menacing tone in her voice.

"_Don't listen to her."_

"Angel, are you deficient? Get something and help me!"

"_She's trying to control you. Don't help her."_

Angel just stood there with a glazed look on his face. The wood of the front door began to creak as the men outside pushed on it.

"Come on!" When she didn't receive a response she grunted angrily. "Fine, then stay out of my way."

The door burst open and a steady flow of hooded men with their eyes cut out poured in. Faith saw their eyes and mumbled to herself, "Bringers." She got into a fighting stance as they created a circle around her. "So, which one of you made the cameo in my dream sequence? Nice work." Moonlight glinted off metal and caused Faith to notice their knives. "And you even brought me weapons. How sweet."

The first bringer lunged forward with his knives, slicing at Faith. She grabbed his wrists and used his strength to shove the blades deep into his stomach. "Who's next?"

A large group came after her now, using knives and fists to attack her. They were easily killed, but the sheer amount was taking a toll on her. She glanced over at Angel, who was now curled up against the wall. "Angel! A little help would be nice!"

"_She's making you weak. Let her die." _ Jenny Calender continued to whisper things to him.

"No." Angel dug his fingernails into his scalp as he tried to ignore the voices.

While Faith was distracted, a Bringer took the chance to attack her. He swung his knife out and managed to cut a deep slice across her stomach.

Faith sucked in a quick gasp of breath at the feeling. She lashed out her fist and connected soundly with the Bringer's face. "Angel." She whispered his name before slumping down to the floor. From where she lay on the floor, she could hear someone else enter the mansion. Metal cut through the air and several large objects collapsed onto the ground. The next thing she knew, she felt cold fingers pressing against her neck.

"Faith? Faith, can you hear me?"

She pushed herself up onto her elbows and was surprised to see Buffy's face. "B."

"Are you alright?" Buffy reached under Faith's arms and pulled her up to a sitting position.

"Five by five. You should probably go check on your boy though."

Buffy looked up and gazed over at Angel. He had his knees bunched up to his chest and was cradling his head in his hands. Leaving Faith's side, she went and kneeled by Angel. "Angel?"

"Faith", he mumbled into his hands.

"No." Buffy carefully moved his hands and lifted up his chin. "It's Buffy."

"Faith. Where— where is she?" His eyes widened in panic as he frantically tried to get up off the floor.

Buffy placed her hands on his shoulders. "Shh. She's gonna be okay."

"No thanks to you."

Angel and Buffy both snapped their heads up to see Faith towering over them. Her mouth was pursed together in an angry fashion; the same anger was mirrored in her glaring eyes that were fixated on Angel.

"Faith, I—" Angel attempted to defend himself under her merciless gaze.

"Don't."

Buffy rose up to her feet and moved over to the wounded girl. "Faith, I know this is hard, but Angel isn't to blame."

In one swift motion, Faith whipped around to stare Buffy in the face. "How can you say that? He sat there and let them attack me. I was saving his ass and all he did was whine about invisible people."

"Something's doing this to him. That's why you're here, remember?" Buffy folded her arms across her chest to conceal her panicked breaths.

"I'm here to help and then what? I get killed by Bringers, or maybe even bitten by the tortured vampire. I'm not waiting for that. You can deal with him how you like, but I'm done." Faith restrained herself from looking at Angel's undoubtedly hurt face.

"I'm sorry." Angel pressed his hands against the wall for support as he stood up.

"Look, it's not like you want me around anyways. B can probably take care of you a lot better than I can." She sighed deeply. "Whatever. Just make sure B checks in with me every night so I know she's alive." She made to move towards the door, but a strong hand encircled her forearm.

"I would never hurt you."

Faith looked up into his deep chocolate colored eyes. "Yeah." Her throat tightened and she barely squeaked out the next word. "Sure."

His grip loosened on her arm and he felt the warmth slip out of his grasp. He gently lowered himself onto his couch as he watched her leave.

"You okay?"

He was startled by the sound of Buffy's voice, forgetting momentarily that she was even there. "Yeah, I just… I can't let her leave like that."

Buffy raised her eyebrows, curious as to why he would be upset about this.

"She's hurt. She shouldn't be alone." It was the truth, but he couldn't tell whether he said it for Buffy's sake or for his own. "I have to go after her." He stood up and pulled on his coat.

"I'll go with you."

Angel held out a hand to stop her. "No. I can do this. I'll just make sure she's safe and be back as soon as I can."

"Angel. Be careful."

He nodded and slipped out into the night.

------

Faith walked through the darkness, listening to the sound of leaves crunching under her feet. Sharp pains shot through her body as she moved, causing her to press her hand firmly against the deep wound in her side. As she entered Shady Pines graveyard she realized that her normal shortcut may not have been the smartest decision right now. With her free hand she pulled a stake out of her jacket and scanned the perimeter for any movement. She heard a loud snap from behind her and whipped around, only to be met by a fairly menacing, large vampire. She struck out her foot and connected with his torso, but the corresponding pain caused her to buckle over as well. The vampire was back up first and retaliated with a blow to her face. The punch caught her off guard, causing her to sink to the ground.

"Not feeling well, Slayer?"

Between gritted teeth she spat out, "I'm fine." She flipped up off the ground and delivered a jab punch combo to his head. "Can't say the same for you."

A low growl erupted from the vampire.

Faith attempted to punch him again, but he easily deflected the blow. As she raised her arm in another attempt to hit him, she felt a crushing grip close down on her forearm. She tried to pull away, but her efforts were thwarted by his other hand as it tightly enclosed her throat.

"You were saying?"

She struggled against his hold, but he only lifted her body higher off the ground. Her dangling feet kicked wildly at his shins, rarely making contact. Stars danced in front of her eyes and she tried her best to stay awake. Just as everything was getting darker, she felt the hands around her neck dissipate. She dropped to the ground, but was caught by a pair of strong arms. The arms pulled her close and wrapped securely around her body as loud coughs racked through her lungs. She buried her face deep into the man's chest and balled her fists tightly around his shirt.

"Shh, you're okay." He rubbed comforting circles across her back with one hand while the other gently stroked her hair.

She released his shirt and pressed her palms against his chest to create more space between them. Her head tilted to the side to allow a better view of his face. "Why did you follow me?"

A smile spread across his face at the sound of her voice. "I was worried about you."

The pressure of his hands still on her back made her shiver, so she pushed his arms away and backed up a step.

Angel could've sworn he felt disappointment at her actions, but he shook it off.

"Why? You don't even know me."

She was wrong there. He could see the pain of her past in every little thing she did. "Then maybe I want to know you."

She scoffed in disbelief.

"I also wanted to thank you. For trying to help me."

"And for bailing on you. Can't forget that."

His face fell. "I'm sorry I let you get hurt."

She shrugged nonchalantly. "You saved me from that guy." She nodded toward the pile of dust. "Guess that makes us even."

"Look, I know that you had a good reason to leave, but maybe you could… I just don't think that…"

"Yeah, I get it. You and B alone together is a bad idea. Especially with your recent history."

Angel cringed. "Let's not rehash the past."

Faith held up her hands in surrender. "Fine. I'll try not to kick your ass this time."

Angel laughed and remarked sarcastically, "Yeah, okay."

Faith raised her eyebrows at him. "You think you can take me?"

"Yeah, I do."

"No way."

"Wanna find out?" Angel closed the gap between them.

She stared up with a determined look on her face. "Yeah." Her features suddenly softened and she lowered her head. "But not right now."

Angel saw a small smile on her face and began to grin as well. "Okay." He started to set his hand on her shoulder, but she pulled away.

"Only because it'd be an unfair fight. I did get stabbed and all."

Angel went along with the change in the conversation and returned her banter. "Well, I have invisible people talking to me. That has to be a disadvantage too."

"You're comparing my stab wound to your mental issues? Please."

"You have slayer healing powers."

"Well your imaginary friends want me dead."

Angel grinned in amusement. "Fine. You win."

"You're damn right." She playfully punched his arm as they began to walk back to the mansion.

---

At the sound of footsteps, Buffy shot up from her chair. "You're back."

Angel nodded. "Yeah." He moved aside and allowed Faith to walk to the couch.

Faith sunk down into the cushions and winced as pain shot through her torso.

Buffy picked up a metal box and moved towards Faith. "I found some bandages."

"Yeah, bandages sound pretty good right now." She pulled up the hem of her shirt, revealing the large gash.

Angel immediately reached for the box, but Buffy held out a hand to stop him.

"I'll take care of it."

He submissively back up a few steps and watched from a distance.

Buffy opened the box and carefully pulled out some gauze and tape. She took the bottle of antiseptic and slowly poured it onto the cut, causing Faith to let out a sharp hiss.

Buffy continued and roughly pressed the gauze against the wound.

Faith jumped back at the pressure. "Geez, B! I thought the whole point of having you do this was that you had a woman's touch."

"Sorry, I'm usually the bandagee, not the other way around."

Faith groaned lightly and looked over at Angel. His eyes seemed to be transfixed on her stomach and she smirked at the thought of all the comments she could make… once B was done torturing her.

Angel gazed at the two girls, watching intently as the white wrapping covered more and more of Faith's smooth stomach. He felt guilty. But he also felt a creeping sensation that he couldn't quite describe. His eyes followed Buffy's fingers as they traced along the slope of Faith's stomach, and he couldn't figure out which girl he was watching more. He swallowed dryly, deciding that his own thoughts were worse than anything the invisible demons could tell him.


End file.
